Animal Health Solutions

57 Q4 2021 | Animal Health Solutions About The Pet Fund To have to surrender a loved and cherished member of the family to a shelter because access to medical care is beyond an individual or family's means is a situation no pet owner wants to consider. However, shelters are overflowing with animals whose owners cannot afford critically needed medical care. Most of these animals are euthanized. Since 2003, The Pet Fund has worked to provide low-income individuals and families access to needed medical care. The Pet Fund is primarily an education and outreach resource, in addition to making grants for needed medical care. Working with pet owners around the country, Pet Fund staff provides information about preventative care measures and financial resources that enable companion animal owners to become self- sufficient and achieve sustainable care for their animals as well. The Pet Fund also works to link pet owners needing assistance to veterinary teaching hospitals and to current clinical study options which enable companion animal owners to be matched with research facilities working on new treatment options. While agencies like Medicare provide low-income families with medical care for human children and adults, there are no agencies which provide help with the expense of animal medical care. Companion animal owners must often make the difficult decision to put an animal down, bring the animal to a shelter, or neglect medical needs because of the costs involved. Covetrus' support has extended The Pet Fund's ability to provide access to needed medical care for the pet owners nationwide. Their help has enabled companion animals to remain with the owners who love and depend on them. About the author Karen Leslie has served as the Executive Director of The Pet Fund since 2003. She has an MFA from Columbia and has worked in nonprofit development focused mainly on healthcare-related issues. About Covetrus Covetrus is a global animal-health technology and services company which works to support veterinary practice partners in veterinary healthcare delivery. By donating $1 from the sale of orders including diabetes care products during National Diabetes Month, the funds Covetrus raised helped fund pet owners in need of feline and canine diabetes treatment and testing. Since 2019, Covetrus has donated over $80,000 to The Pet Fund in support of companion animal diabetes care and education. Covetrus is a corporation that cares deeply about the clients it serves, which is an extension of their commitment to companion animal healthcare. Where many corporations are content to include healthcare support language in their marketing brochures, Covetrus puts their commitment into action, helping pet owners and veterinarians to achieve better health outcomes. Their ongoing generosity will help more pet owners to keep their animals healthy and at home, which is even more important in the middle of a pandemic which affects pet owners' financial stability. Covetrus is also very proactive about producing education materials that help pet owners become more aware of diabetes diagnosis and treatment. Diabetes is a difficult disease to manage and requires a steep learning curve to be able to understand and implement needed care. The education materials developed by Covetrus are also part of their commitment to help The Pet Fund support pet owners whose animals are newly diagnosed, in addition to helping provide important preventative care information. Our combined efforts will help pet owners be more successful in treating canine and feline diabetes, as well as in keeping companion animals out of shelters and in loving homes. Our ongoing partnership means that more pet owners will have access to needed veterinary care. We want to extend our thanks to Covetrus for caring about companion animals and their families.

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